Burns anxious to get things started

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Acadia head hockey coach Darren Burns is looking forward to getting started with the 2008-2009 season.

The Axemen, who have been practicing since early September and will see their first exhibition action Friday at St. F.X., play their first games of 2008-2009 at Acadia Arena next weekend, Sept. 27-28, as part of the Don Wells hockey tournament.

St. F.X. and Saint Mary’s are scheduled to open the tournament Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m., with Acadia taking on Queen’s University at 6 p.m. Saturday’s losers will meet Sunday at 1 p.m., with Saturday’s winners facing off for the championship Sunday at 6.

Burns said he expects good things from the Axemen this season. “We’re going to be an improved team, that’s for sure,” he said. “We’ll skate better in the back end and we should score more goals.”

From what he’s hearing, “the top six teams in our league will be strong.” In fact, he added, “the whole league looks really strong this year. A lot of teams have had good recruiting years.”

Acadia has added a new goalie, three new defensemen and three new forwards while bidding adieu to Lanny Ramage, Dale Good, Pierre Mitsou, Brad Horan and Joel Isenor.

“We’re bigger than we were last year, we’ll be faster and have more offensive ability,” Burns said. The players returning from last year “are excited because they know we’ve made improvements.”

Good skating team that moves the puck well

Burns acknowledged the Axemen not only had to find replacements for their graduated players, they had to improve while doing so. “It’s not enough in this league anymore to be just a good team. You need to be better than that.”

He said there have been no real surprises since the start of training camp. “What we thought we were getting, we’re getting. To know more than that, we really need to play some games.”

The Axemen look to be “a good skating team that moves the puck well,” he said, “and I like the work ethic I’ve seen in practice.” In fact, he predicted, “one of our strengths is likely to be our work ethic down low.”

Acadia’s new forwards – Ryan Graham, Jonathan Laberge, Chris Bruton and Scott Tregunna – “were mostly all 30-goal scorers in major junior. That should equate to more offense,” and help alleviate the lack of scoring that was sometimes a problem last season.

As well, all of Acadia’s new players (and many of the returning ones as well) held positions of responsibility (captains and assistant captains) with their former teams and have the potential not only to show great leadership, but play well together as a team.

After the Wells tournament, the Axemen conclude their pre-season with an Oct. 1 game at Dal, a home game against Dal Oct. 10 in Canning and a neutral site game Oct. 11 against St. Thomas in Sussex, N.B. Their home opener is Friday, Oct. 17 against SMU.